This book is concerned primarily with the church courts; secondarily it deals with various aspects of sexual behaviour and marriage; more generally it tries to convey something about the nature of early modern English society, and what it was like to live in small-scale communities where many forms of personal behaviour were subject to legal sanction. My immense debt to the numerous scholars who have worked or are currently working in these fields will, I trust, be apparent from the notes and references. But during the long period of the book's gestation I have incurred many personal obligations which I should like to acknowledge here. Cliff Davies, who tutored me in early modern history at Wadham, originally suggested that I might study the church courts. The doctoral thesis on which parts of this work are based was supervised by Keith Thomas; I am deeply grateful to him for the stimulus he offered, for the vigilance with which he guided my work, and for his constant encouragement and kindness. My thanks are also due to Joan Thirsk, who acted as joint supervisor for a while and opened my eyes to many possibilities which I would otherwise have missed. I am grateful, too, to Patrick Collinson, who gave me much needed encouragement at a critical time. In addition I should like to register my appreciation of the assistance offered by the staffs of the various libraries and record offices which I have used; I owe a particular debt of thanks to Mrs Dorothy Owen of Cambridge University Library; to Mr K. H. Rogers, the Wiltshire County Archivist; and to Miss Pamela Stewart, formerly Assistant Archivist for the diocese of Salisbury.